Partnership between motion control, cameras more than stands test of time February 20, 2018 While cameras and motion control have worked in tandem for at least 15 years, their integration has improved because networks have gotten faster, more reliable, and more deterministic (i.e., nothing will interfere with a function that’s a priority).
Berkeley lab hopes to birth teachable robotic systems February 27, 2018 A team of researchers from UC Berkeley, led by Pieter Abbeel, is working on the creation of smart robots that are teachable and can learn new skills without pre-programming. Abbeel and his team also formed a startup called Embodied Intelligence with the aim of developing artificial intelligence (AI) software to enable robots to learn from humans to perform complex tasks.
Three perspectives converge on smart manufacturing February 27, 2018 Manufacturers continue to be bombarded with an onslaught of technology terms, as well as different ideas on where to begin and how to proceed. This confusion has slowed the adoption of new technology. Yet a big opportunity for a huge increase in efficiency awaits.
Agile hardware development can quicken product lifecycle January 16, 2018 In today’s booming software landscape, you see highly dynamic teams quickly iterating to develop and improve their products. Yet while the world’s software creators have learned to “move fast and break things,” hardware developers are still (slowly) moving to adopt a more agile product development methodology.
Removing mental roadblocks to improving operations January 30, 2018 It’s a familiar scenario at the factory. Quality issues have reared their ugly heads, requiring rework, causing backorders, delaying shipments, and driving tense daily customer calls. Meanwhile, the team works to address production issues using a mix of day-old post-mortem reports, shop-floor observations captured on notepads, and other operational data summarized on spreadsheets and sticky notes.
Thanks to the IoT, dog days of low-value data are over January 10, 2018 For many years, the knowledge economy and traditional industries like manufacturing appeared to be on parallel tracks. Now those tracks are converging.
SPONSORED BY 3M: Five Common Reasons Manufacturers are Bonding with Industrial Tapes December 5, 2017 Manufacturers are always looking for ways to keep ahead of the competition. And with advancements in bonding technologies, they’ve been able to explore new ways in doing just that. Industrial-grade, double-sided acrylic foam tapes such as 3M™ VHB™ Tapes are increasingly being used in place of more traditional mechanical fasteners such as screws, rivets, bolts, and welds—in order to permanently bond components together.
What defense firms can do to ensure industrial security December 19, 2017 Defense systems are, by design, built to defend against threats. Today, however, manufacturers of these systems are focusing on an entirely new kind of threat: security breaches targeting their automation systems.
SPONSORED BY 3M: No Mechanical Fasteners, Bolts, or Rivets—Just Tape: 3M VHB Tape-Assembled Scooter Showcases Applications for Bolt-, Rivet-Free Designs November 1, 2017 Would you roll down the driveway on a scooter without bolts, rivets, or mechanical fasteners of any kind? 3M scientists Michael Leighton and Brent Bystrom would. And they did.
Seeing Shop-Floor Steps Clearly Helps Workers Quickly Learn on the Job November 30, 2017 VKS [Visual Knowledge Share] develops an electronic work instruction solution designed to improve quality, productivity, and efficiency.
